Happy Retirement Dad!!

After over 31 years of service, today is "officially" my Dad's last day of work with the Government of AB! 

We had a great time celebrating his retirement and his 55th birthday at a party my parents hosted on Saturday evening.  There were many of Dad's closest friends in attendance and I had a lot of fun visiting with people who I haven't seen in many years!!  I think Dad had a great time too ... and was maybe feeling it the next day?! 

He has started his consultant business, DWS Consulting and will hopefully enjoy this new chapter in his life.

Love ya Dad, wishing you all the best with your new business :)

xoxo

Kids Really Do Say the Darnest Things :)

Blake: One of my teachers wasn't there today.  She hasn't been there in a little while.
Mom: Maybe she got a new job.
Blake: Why?
Mom: Sometimes people change jobs.
Blake: Why?
Mom: Well maybe they found a job closer to their home or a job that pays more money.
Blake: I think Dad should stay at Telus.
Mom: I think he will Blake.
Blake: Yeah, cause he works with Brad and he likes working with Brad.
Mom: *laughs* Yes I think he does Blake!

Dad: We're having fish and chips for supper.
Emerson: Fish?  Like Uncle Jeremy has?
Blake: Yeah, I like that fish!
Mom: Well it's kind of the same ...

Emerson: I'm going to be a dancer!
Dad: As long as you aren't dancing on poles ...
Emerson: What?
Mom: CAL!

Reese:

Reese exploring!

Reese is walking along furniture, toys etc!  She's been doing this for a few weeks now.  She also loves to clap and dance :)  She loves music!!!  It's hard to believe she is almost 1 :S  We've started planning her 1st birthday party!  Unbelievable.  She's also starting to let go of things, stand for a second and then fall!!  I have a feeling she'll be walking within the next 2 months or so!  She seems a bit more daring then Blake and Em were?!  Reese still only has 7 teeth ... in July the 7 teeth broke through within approx. 5 weeks.  There was an 8th that I thought was through and wasn't and now lots near the surface, but nothing through.  She chews on her fingers, hands and forearms - poor girl!  I hope the rest of her teeth start breaking through soon.  Reese is talking a lot too!  Some of the words I recognize are, "Mom, Dad, Bye, Jazz, and Dora!"  Yes ... Dora.  I'm not sure I should be happy that my almost 1 yr old recognizes the infamous Dora already?!  I suppose it's inevitable, being as her older sister is a Dora nut ;)  Reese really listens to me now and intently watches me as if trying to absorb everything I'm saying to her ... I LOVE it!  She waves hi and bye all the time, all it takes is someones to say, "Bye!" and she starts waving!!  Reese is my little cuddle bug, she gives me the biggest hugs and kisses!  All I have to say is, "Hugs and kisses?"  Although her kisses are a bit sloppy ;)  She is very content to play by herself, walking and crawling around the family room.  Some days I think she could explore for hours!!   

Emerson:

Caught a good pic of Em :)

Emerson has just gone through a growth spurt!  Her size 2 pants are all capri's ;)  Good thing I love to shop!!!  We thought she was moving out of the "terrible two's", she had a few really mellow weeks, maybe even months!!  But they're back :S  Time outs work pretty good, although they are spent with her screaming and crying for the most part!  They do calm her down ... and allow me to calm down too!!!  Thankfully she's a gem most of the time, but the odd times can be tough, as I'm sure most parents can attest to!   Emerson and Blake have been into dress up for a long time now, but lately all Em wants to be is a princess or a ballerina!  She twirls all around in her dress up dresses and tutu's and loves wearing her princess high heel shoes!  I'm amazed at how well she can walk, dance and twirl in those shoes!!  She LOVES to dance!!  I'd love to take her to a class called Blossoming Ballerina's that my friend takes her daughter to, but the times don't work out for us this session.  Hopefully next session!!

Blake:

Blake's list for Fort Mac!!

Blake is moving on up from Floaters to Gliders in his swimming lessons!  We're so proud of him :)  On Thursday I volunteered in Blake's classroom.  I had a blast and really enjoyed myself!  Blake got to be the weather man, which consists of deciding what the weather is like outside and placing the appropriate felt piece on the calendar.  But the class has to agree with him!  It was so cute to see him pull out a cloud and show it to the classroom with a shy little grin on his face!!  Blake also asked a few questions during show and share!  I had a hard time not breaking out in laughter some of the time, as the kids were all so cute and often funny (even when they weren't listening to Miss Kara!!!)!  One little girl is especially "spirited" and after talking to the teachers, they said they even have a hard time not giggling at her antics!!!!  I'd love to volunteer every week in the classroom, but I'm going to volunteer again during the Halloween Party and Cal might take a turn in November :)  Blake's hockey season is in full swing!  He's loving it and today came home all excited because Cal was the head Coach today (vs. Assistant!)!  Which means they got to bring home all the pylons and some other equipment!

We had a great Thanksgiving long weekend in Fort McMurray!  Jeremy and Lindsay's new house is gorgeous and had more then enough room for the Cameron/Smith invasion ;)  The kids travelled well and slept good for the most part!  It was nice to see my cousin Melissa and her family for dinner on Sunday night.  The kids played awesome together, most especially Blake and Ryder!!  Next time we go up I think we'll have to have Ryder over for a longer play date!!  Thanks to Linds and Jer for hosting Thanksgiving this year and for the delicious dinner :)

I'm so excited to go to the Oiler's game with Cal tonight!!  We haven't been on a date since November 2010!  Thank you to Christa for babysitting, we hope the kids stay sleeping for you ;) 

Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!!!

xoxo
The Cameron's

4 more Sneak Peak's!!

Karyn from IsaBelle's Photography posted a few more "sneak peak" photo's to her FB page today!!  I have to say, I am pleasantly surprised and quite impressed :)  She will be giving us approximately 50 pictures on our disc, so I'm really excited to see the rest!!!

We couldn't get these kids to sit still, but look at the JOY on their faces :)

1 word: a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e

They love each other :)

My heart, soul & life ...

Fabulous Fall!

Sneak peak of Fall photo's!

This is my favorite time of the year!!  I love the crispness in the air and the beautiful colors!  I've always wanted to have fall family photo's done, but we usually do photo's around the time of our kid's birthdays and we don't have any September babies!  Our favorite photographer Rose was in town doing photo sessions a few weeks ago but I passed on the opportunity because I thought we'd get photos done for Reese's 1st birthday in November ... then I regretted my decision :S  So this week I quickly found a photographer to take photo's of us this weekend and searched out outfits for the family.  Blake and Em were very excited to be outside running around and Reese was busy chewing on her hand ... BUT Karyn did take a lot of photo's and there were some cute moments, so hopefully she caught at least a few good shots :)   I'll be sure to post more when we get them back!!

We've had a great few weeks in our house!  Cal enjoyed his first Oiler's game of the season, taking in a preseason game.  We are sharing season tickets this year with 2 other people, so look forward to attending a few games!!  I actually can't wait for the first game we're going to together on October 20th, as we have not had a date night since before Reese was born!!!  

Blake had his 2nd dentist visit a few weeks ago and returned last week to have sealants put on 4 of his bottom molars.  He was a superstar at the dentist's :)  Dr. Bergt didn't have to freeze his mouth and we were in and out in 22 minutes, even though she'd scheduled Blake in for 1 hr!!  They were so impressed with how well he sat and cooperated!  No complaints, no crying, nothing ... such a good patient!  He has extremely deep grooves in his teeth (more so then normal according to the dentist) and so will be prone to cavities his entire life, unfortunately.  But he loves to brush and floss, so we'll keep on that and hopefully avoid fillings ;)  While at the dentist with Blake, I also scheduled Emerson's 1st visit for March 2012 on kid's day!!

Taking a break at the zoo :)

We had a super fun time at the Edmonton zoo on Sunday the 25th!  It was "free day" in Edmonton (free admission to numerous attractions and fitness facilities in the city) and the kids wanted to take Dad to the zoo!!  It was very busy, but with all the space the zoo has it wasn't overwhelming or hard to get around.  Blake and Em LOVE Lucy the elephant and were soaking up every bit of information during the "getting to know Lucy" session we attended :)  We're going to look into a family pass next summer, as I love taking the kids there to run and explore.  Blake really enjoys looking at the maps of where the animals are from and hearing about what they eat and I'm sure Emerson will be into those facts too next year!!

Cal was in Fort McMurray on Monday night for work, which was very strange for me!  I have been away from Cal overnight in the past few years, but not the reverse!!  Cal always puts Blake and Emerson to bed, so we had to call him to sing their songs they sing every night!  It was really sweet, hearing everyone singing over the phone :)  He will be doing a bit of travelling now with his new job and is also away this Monday and Tuesday night, so I'm sure we'll be calling him again to sing the bedtime songs!

We had a great time on Saturday at Emma's 2nd birthday party, which Jess and Robb hosted at Dynamyx Gymnastic's Club.  Blake and Em and even Reese enjoyed the floor activities and of course the dinner and cake afterwards!  It was really nice to visit with my Uncle Clifford and Auntie Cheryl, who we spent a lot of time with when we lived in St. Paul, but don't get to see very often now.  Emma enjoyed her party too and is so stinkin' cute, she has a great little personality :)  

I am SO excited for our upcoming visit to Lindsay and Jeremy's house in Fort McMurray this weekend!!  I can't wait to see their new house, but mostly can't wait to spend time with my family and see Linds' baby bump ;)  It will be really nice to go to them for once, as they are always coming to us!  

Our visit to Fort Mac will be followed by Cal's week off!!  Yippee!!!!  It will be a busy week though, we have a lot to accomplish around home!  But will be nice to have him home and I'm sure we'll squeeze in some fun ;)

Take care everyone, talk to you again soon!

xoxo The Cameron's

  

Happy 10 month Birthday Reese :)

Yes, Reese is 10 months old today!!  I know with every child I say I can't believe how fast time is going by but it continues to speed up.  SLOW DOWN ... please?!  I don't know how Reese is 10 months old already.  I mean, really ... where in the world does the time go???

Reese is growing and changing fast and is so much fun!!  She loves to move and is crawling all over the place and just started pulling herself up to standing on her play table and on Heidi's toy bin!!  The couch and coffee table seem to high for her to pull herself up on!  She seems to know where we don't want her to go and as soon as an opportunity presents itself, she heads for those areas (i.e. the bathroom/laundry room, the stairs to the basement!!).  As soon as I say, "Reeeese!!" she crawls faster!  lol!  She still has 7 teeth, with an 8th near breaking through (it's been near for a long time!!).  She loves food (surprise, surprise!) and really enjoys feeding herself.  She's eating a lot of what we eat now, just chopped up really small.  She loves drinking her water from a straw cup, but also loves spitting water out and making a mess!!!!  I find it really neat that she already recognizes Heidi, Jazz, Dad, Mom, Blake, Emerson, her teddy and her blankie.  When I ask her, "Where's Heidi?"  She scans the room and looks right at her!  Same with the other people/items!  It's so amazing how much a child learns in 10 short months.  And so rewarding to be a part of as a parent :)  Blake and Emerson love her to death and are still really good with her!  They are always watching out for her, making sure she isn't putting anything too small in her mouth.  We're definitely lucky she hasn't choked on anything yet ... to date she's been found with dice, small Lego, and a penny in her mouth :S  Reese is really enjoying our Come Play With Me program and loves music and books!! Just yesterday we moved her into a big kid carseat.  She could technically still be in the bucket seat, but it's way to heavy to carry around!!  She seemed smitten with her new car seat yesterday!  We love her big grins :)  And sometimes if we're lucky when we ask for hugs and kisses, she gives up a big mouth wide open kiss!!  

Blake and Emerson both started swimming and dove right back into lessons ;)  Blake's swimming really improved this summer!  Grandpa taught him how to doggie paddle at the cabin and he picked that right up again during his first lesson!!  Emerson's having fun too, but is ready to move on to unparented lessons.  But she'll have to wait until she's 3 for those!!  Em also started gymnastics on Wednesday.  She loves it and is most especially fond of the "stork stance" and choosing her outfit for her class ;)  Blake started hockey on Saturday and had a blast!  I woke Reese up from her morning nap so the girls and I could catch the last 1/2 hr of his practice!

We had fun on Sunday afternoon celebrating our niece Jenna's 2nd birthday at a polka-dot themed party :)  Grandma Bev was down for the party too, so it was nice to visit and catch up with her! 

Fall is definitely in the air!  Hoodie and sweater season is upon us - my 2 favorite pieces of clothing ;)

Have a great week everyone!!

Tracy

She's really movin' now!!

Reese is not only rolling but crawling at the speed of light ;)  Well not quite, but she's crawling faster and a lot more then she was 2 weeks ago!!  She also is "walking" when she's standing and being supported under her armpits and she's trying to walk along the couch and coffee table too!  And she's learned how to sit up from crawling!  A couple of weeks ago she could sit up from laying on the ground, by holding onto something with one hand and pushing on the ground with the other, but now she sits up without holding onto anything!!  Every morning when I go into her room to get her out of her crib, she's sitting up!  She gives me the biggest smiles, I love it :)  She tries to pull herself up on everything she can hold onto and has bumped her head more times then I can count :S  Way more then Blake and Emerson!!  She's a lot busier then they were at this age!  It's amazing how fast she's growing and changing!  I also taught her the signs for "more" and for "all done!"  And it seems like she actually gets them, which is amazing to me?!  I showed her all done a few times and now when I say it she tries to copy me and do the sign!  I never taught Blake or Em signs when they were this young, but when they were over 1 one of the library programs we attended taught signs so I remember a lot of them and just for fun thought I'd show Reese a few!!

Cousins!

The last few weeks of August and the beginning of September has been busy!  We had our niece Jenna and nephew Colby for a sleepover on September long weekend.  It was lots of fun and they were SO well-behaved!!  We really enjoyed spending time with them :)  We also attended Berlyn's 2nd birthday party that weekend.  There was a great group of kids there and we all had a lot of fun!  Blake and Emerson had a blast in the bouncy houses!!  And to top the weekend off, we met Carmen and family (- Kourtney) for dinner.  It was nice to see everyone :)

1st day of Preschool (year 2) - September 6, 2011

Blake started his 2nd year of Preschool on Tuesday, September 6th.  We registered him in Fun Factory at the CD YMCA again.  It's a great program and so convenient for us, because we take Emerson and Reese to a parented program (Come Play With Me) across the hall from Blake's classroom!  It was an entirely new scene for Blake this year, only 1 returning friend from last year and all new teachers!!  Although, Mrs. Steele (a volunteer) did return on Tuesday mornings and Miss Kara ran the summer day camp programs this year, so Blake recognized her as well.  Emerson had a blast at Come Play With Me and Reese did too!!!  Reese crawled around, "talking" and playing! 

On Wednesday we had a fun playdate with my cousin Jessica and her daughter Emma and look forward to more "dates" with them!!!

Enjoying the zoo!

Today the kids and I made an impromptu trip to the Valley Zoo.  The past 2 summers we've visited the zoo numerous times, but hadn't made it there this summer.  There are a lot of renovations happening, but the kids still had a blast!  Emerson had a close encounter with the tiger - he was right on the glass behind her!  Scared the life out of her (& Blake)!!!  It was SO funny, I wish I'd had my camera out at that time!!!  Every time we go to the zoo, the kids wish Cal was there!  They're always saying, "I wish Dad could see Lucy!"  "We should show Dad the monkeys!" etc, etc, etc.  So hopefully we'll make it there on Free Zoo Day (September 25th)!  Free admission for all, can't beat it!!!

Swimming lessons start today (Blake) and tomorrow (Emerson) and Blake's hockey starts on September 17th.  Both of our little fish are looking forward to their lessons and Blake is super excited for hockey ;)  Emerson is also VERY excited to start gymnastics on Wednesday and to attend Emma's Dynamyx birthday party on October 1st!! 

Cal had his annual Telus golf tournament yesterday afternoon/evening.  He had a great time and brought me home a pair of Oakley sunglasses!!  All the golfers received a pair!  And apparently the door prizes were amazing, last year he won an iPod touch, but he didn't win anything this year.  Cal doesn't get out golfing much anymore, but I'm sure it's a hobby he'll take up again one day ;)

Our weather has been absolutely gorgeous this week!  We've had fun in the backyard, playing in the sprinkler and keeping cool in the shade!!   

Hope you're able to enjoy some of this sun, have a great weekend :)

Love The Cameron's

PS:  I forgot to mention that Emerson is doing so great on the potty!!  At home and out and about!  She takes herself and doesn't even need reminding!  Very few accidents too!  We're so proud of her!!  Way to go Em :)

So much going on!!

Reese:

a.k.a. Reesey, Goose, Goosester, Blueberry, Baby!!  Reese turned 9 months old on August 19th.  9 MONTHS?!?  Oy!!  Her 1st year is flying by. I am not sure where I got Goose from, but that is my favorite nickname for Reese a.t.m. Emerson refers to her most often as "baby!"  Reese continues to be a very fast roller!  She gets from one end of a room to the other extremely fast via rolling!!  She still doesn't get too far with crawling - gets up on her hands and knees, crawls a "step" or 2, collapses and rolls!!!  But her new favorite thing to do is what I call a bear walk position - up on her toes and hands on the floor in front of her!  She loves doing this "downward dog" type pose!!  Makes her smile ;)  She also loves to stand!!  Reese has a rough few days last week.  She came down with a high fever and was extremely unhappy for 2 days and not very happy for a 3rd day!  We were off to Saskatoon last weekend for my cousin Aaron's wedding and she fell ill on Tuesday night.  Wednesday wasn't too bad, but Wednesday night and Thursday all day were terrible!  So I took her to the E.R.  She had no other symptoms so they did an in and out catheter to see if she had a urinary tract infection, but she didn't.  Dr. said it was a virus.  Dang viruses!!!  She was not nursing, not eating solids, crying, fussing, not sleeping ... it was terrible!!  By Friday night she was almost back to her normal self and so we left for the airport early Saturday morning.  We had a wonderful time in Saskatoon, visiting with a lot of my "Smith" family.  Reese travelled well, thank goodness and was back to her normal self!

Emerson:

Emerson is pretty much potty trained!!  She has been going to the potty off and on for the past few weeks and this week started using the potty exclusively.  She's had a few accidents, mostly #2's, but has really impressed us with how quickly she picked up on using the potty!  We new that potty training Emerson would not be the same experience as we had with Blake.  She had to decide how and when to do it and she pretty much did just that and virtually trained herself!  Which I suppose is not really training at all, but maybe more appropriately called potty learning.  Blake has been one of her biggest cheer leaders, which I think has helped a lot :)  We've taken her out 2 days in a row now, yesterday she had an accident while out so today I put a Pull-Up on her, but she used the washroom while out :)  We're so proud of her!!!  The whole process has been a lot less work this time around!  We were going to have her potty party on Sunday evening, but post poned it to this Sunday evening at my parent's new lake lot!  Emerson is SO into clothes and is of course really into all her new underwear ;)  She's always been a girly girl, but it's getting more and more as she gets older.  She picks her clothes and changes her outfit a gazillion times a day!  It's like an ongoing fashion show around here :)  It is so cute to see her pick up a piece of clothing, hold it up and say, "Awwww ... cute!"  Or sometimes she'll look at something, put it down and tell me to sell it!!  Too funny!!! 

Blake:

Blake's doing great!  He's still our little ball of energy, enjoying summer and all the activities that come with it :)  He loves to play every sport you can think of and still loves his truck's and trains!!  He had a blast at his Jitter Bug's camp in July and is in another session this week.  He was pretty excited to see Adam, his preschool buddy this week at the YMCA.  It was cute to see them chatting and catching up!!!  Blake is very proud of Emerson's potty accomplishments and all of Reese's new accomplishments!  He's very excited to go camping and quadding with Grandma and Grandpa D this weekend!! 

So as I said above, Reese took her first airplane ride this weekend.  She did great!  I was worried about her ears, but we had no issues.  We enjoyed visiting with family in Saskatoon!  While Reese and I were in SK, Cal, Blake and Emerson were having a fun weekend in E-Town!!!  Saturday they went to the Canadian Derby at Northlands (an annual outing for the Cameron family!) and had a great time par-taking in the race day activities.  Sunday they went to a local park with Berlyn and then after naptime, they went to the Parenteau's for a pool party/BBQ!  They had a busy weekend and were tuckered out by Sunday night!! 

September is fast approaching and with it comes a new set of fall and winter activities.  Blake's taking a skating lesson on Monday's starting in October and Initiation 1 hockey will start sometime in September (Saturdays).  Preschool starts the week after September long weekend (Tuesdays and Thursday mornings) and so do swimming lessons on Friday afternoons.  Emerson starts gymnastics (Wednesday afternoons) and swimming lessons (Saturday mornings) starting the week after September long weekend.  Em's also really looking forward to Come Play With Me (during Blake's preschool class) and seeing Ms. Christine again!!  Reese will be joining us at Come Play With Me and I'm really looking forward to seeing her reaction to the group this year, as she is older and LOVES singing and music!!  She loves playing with our LeapFrog fridge toys that sings and smiles and tries to clap her hands when I sing and clap to the music!  I think she'll really enjoy Come Play With Me!!

Looking at the list of activities above worries me a tad!!!!  I already feel overwhelmingly busy and we don't have any of that on our plates yet?!  I better get better organized!  And get to bed earlier ...  

Enjoy the last few weeks of August everyone!  Hopefully our weather will continue to be nice and our September will be kind to us as well :)

xoxo Tracy